Sheet separating apparatus



` A118- 19, 1941. w. R. scHMl-rz, JR' 2,253,140

SHEET SEPRATING` APPARATUS Filed .June 1, 1940 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY y y mamas wood pulpior ,cottonlinters.`

upstanding'sheets of iibrous cellulose tcwardia l y the same into a receivingdevice.

i feeding apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention.

' A `-Iiiggdi isatop planview` of ajsheet supporting \Amember.`

I PatentedAuglQ,

` c SHEET sEPAnA'rrNG APPARATUS william melma schmitz, Jr., Bansin, N. Y., assignor to E. I. dnlont de Nemours & Company, A Wilmington, Del., la corporation of Delaware Application Junenisio, serial No. 338,441

Y A AA y c "9 claims. A The present invention relates to an apparatus@ forcontinuously andV automatically feeding, in

"Aan intermittent manner, a successive series Aof.

` sheets .of fibrous cellulose material to areceiving i device. The apparatus of l the present `invention l V5i has particularutility in thefautom'atic, continu-A l l AA ous feeding of relatively stiff; coarse sheetsof l It is an object of the "present invention to` provideA an.apparatusV for Athe continuous and automatic feeding ofsheets of fibrous` cellulose from a stack lof such sheets'closelypacked in anf upstand'ing position on aAmoving conveyor. A t It isa further object of this invention* to slowly move, as a unit, a large number of closely packed i A receiving member and to periodically separateone or .more of these sheets yfrom theA unit and pass:

` Other objects ofthe invention will appear hereiDafllelZA` 1" `The apparatus oi the. present invention, in its i broad laspectslcomprises; in combinatioma mov c ing conveying apparatus upon which a stack of 1 sheets ofnbrous cellulose areV placed in an up .standing position,and AaAsheet separating and Y feeding mechanismwhicn is so constructed and l arranged, relative A to the conveying apparatus.` as to move between the sheets of the stackto sepf arate one ormoreof thesheetsfrom theforwardi' end` ofthe stackand move the separated Asheet or sheets kfrom the conveyor toa receiving device.l

` The details of the apparatus will be more f y clearlyA apparent "by reference tothe following description when taken inconnection with the accompanying illustrations, in' which:`

Fig. `1 is' asectional view, with parts shownin t elevation, taken along theline i-v-I of Figriipf Q2 is a front elevational view of a sheet .40

n meral A Ii designates a stack` of'closely packed sneetsofjpulp wood, or the likelpositioned in an" manner' una pair of spacedA parallel 55 iol. zwi-4:1.)Y

conveying belts |31 mounted on a4 common shaft AIE. The shaft i6 A is rotatedlin a step-wise manner Abyy means of al conventional pawl and ratchet mechanism comprising a stationeryspringpressed pawl I9,an oscillating pawl 2|, and arotatable rachet wheel l1. A'Ihe oscillating `pawl isAactuated by connec` tionAwith an oscillating lever 23 which is rotat-` ably` mounted on shaft i6 `and is oscillated by" the rotating cam 25. The lever 23 is provided with a follower wheel 21A and aicoiied compres,` c sion;spring `3i whichyis adapted to maintain"`the follower-wheel 21 in contact'with 25; The springl is connected. betweenlthe two pawls` I8 A and `2l and, therefore,a1so functions to maintain both` pawls in contact withA rachet wheel I 1. A

The sheetseparating andfeeding mechanism;` i comprises o. reciprocating bar which is adapted l to move in a 'fixed support35 and is maintained A in contact with eccentric cam 29 by means of the 4coiledA compression` spring); 31. i

29 are both fixed 'mounted onrotatlng shaft 26; Thereciprocating bar 33 is` provided with a sheet separatingblade 39.A The biade 38 Aispreferably y A positioned below the `stack of sheets |Iand`A`be"` `tweeriAthe two conveying belts I3. 'I'h'eblade It is pivoted to the reciprocating bar 3l. andis pro#- 'vided at oppositesides thereof withprojecting A riders Il.; ATheA riders Il arepositloned inAslots.` for A grooves in `supporting, member `43. A AThe slot 'i or groove vof the supportingmember lliscurved `adjacent the :extreme l outward end thereof, as shown by reference A45. AIt is, therefore, evident A that uponi reciprocating the bor A towards the c `stack of sheets, the blade will *move-.upwardly between two ofthe sheets-andaslthe'lblade continues to move `upwardly itwill be Aoscillated in a. right-hand direction, as shown inAthedrawings,"A

as a result of the riders 4 i .following in thegroove l5. i

as follows:` A

UponArotation rachet mechanism A`is moved Ato advance'pulley li and thereby advance the stack of sheets All. A AA Cam Athen reciprocates barjlupwardlycausing l the `blade A38 to `be inserted between "two sheets `of the stack Il. the bladelapproaches the A Aend' of its` upward movement'it isl causedjtolA oscillate` due tothe path of the riders 4I in' the angular groove Il, and thereby separates oneforc PATENT .o1-FICE l AThe conveyingbelts` ISareA` moved by means of aplurality of pulleys I5 Cams 25A and The blade A39 is positioned in overlapping relationship to a sheet hoidinggmember 41. The" top of theksheetholding; member l1 is lproviqzieci withan arcuate sheet guidingI member '49.1 `z`Ing operation the apparatus functions substantially `[of the canif25,the Apawl "53 and a substantially nat back member twov members being y rigidly connected to each other and strengthened by means of a brace '51. y

Y The bottom member 53 must,

more of the sheetsl from `the forward end of the stack Il and lmoves the same from the stack. 'I'he sheet holding member 4K1 remains ln contact with the sheets at theforward endof the stack. The bottomr of the sheet is contacted by the arcuate sheetguiding. member I9 and the blade `39 is adapted `to slide the sheet outwardly onr guidingl memberls. The sheets moving from Vthe stack I I are flipped into a hopper 15,'o`r the like, which'` is-adaptedv toconvey them to any desired receiving means (not shown). Referring 'to Figs.` 3, 4, and 5 of the drawing thestack of sheets may be positionedon the conveying belts I3 by means of a sheet supporting member 5I. The sheet supporting member 5I,.lled with sheets, may be positioned against the back of the preceding sheet supporting member. The preceding sheet supporting member 5I may' thenzbe removed from the stack by merely pulling it sidewise from the stack of sheets resting on the sheet'conveying belts I3. In this manner one sheet supporting member will' support all of thesnh'eetson'the conveyor 'in an upstanding The sheet supporting members `are position. y y f comprised of a substantially fiat bottom member 55, the

of course, be sufficiently long that when the sheet supporting device is lled'it will remain in an Aupright position on the, conveyor. rIfhe brace several [of rsuch. braces, must -be positioned only on one' side of the members53 and 55 so that the sheet supporting member can be slidfrom the stack 'in a sidewise direction.I A' handleof any desired form may be connected tothe brace 51.

Referringto Fig; 6 of the drawings, the stack vof sheets. II is moved on a'single conveying belt I3 .driven by pulley AI5i. The sheet separating and feeding` mechanism is* positionedl adjacent theforward end of the stack of sheets beside the pulley I5alv` The sheet separating `and `feeding 1 apparatus is comprised of substantially the same` meclfianisr'n` above-described, andthe blade of 51, or, yif desired,

ciprocatory and oscillating motion by numerous different forms of apparatus. The blade 39 need not necessarily have an oscillating motion, it being only necessary that the blade,` after being inserted between sheets, move away from the forward end of the stack.

. In the drawings, lthe reciprocating'bar `33 and the blade 39` are shown mounted at an angle, corresponding to the angle at which the sheets `are positioned upon the conveying belts. Al-

@though this is desirable, it is not an essential vfeature ofthe present invention, and the mounting of the reciprocating bar and the sheet septhis mechanism is 'adapted' toi be inserted be-` `tweensheets atv one sidel of the' stack.' .This form of apparatus is less desirable, nevertheless, isopmeans in the sarne'rnanner as in the apparatus above-described. f In moving'the sheets from the stack" in this modified form of apparatus, the

erative to feed successiveshi-*iets4 into `a receiving anism` may sheet will be moved lfromits lower-left-handv corner asshown in'Fig. 6, and it will, therefore,

beV twistedV sidewise slightly during' the feedingv thereof. Byutilizing a hopper of large area, this twisting of the sheet will be unobjectionable.`

' "Although the above-described forms of apparatus` are modifications can be madein the detailed con--V struction thereof.

Itis not necessary that the pulleys I5 and the conveying belts I3 be driven in a stepwise manner. rI 'hese members may be driven in axcontinnous manner, at a relativelyv constant speed, so

` that the sheet'lvseparating vandfeeding mecha- `nism,operated"a`t a constant speed of reciprocathe preferred embodiments of the in" vention, it is :obvious-that many changes andv tion 'will'permit the feeding of'a predetermined rnumber ofl sheets at each re'ciprocatlon of thesheet feeding member. 1 Obviously, the reciprocatingbar 33 maybelgiven a reciprocatory motion by yothermeans than a cam. Furthermore,

' '.thereciprocatingand oscillating motion of the j sheetseparating blade 39 vmay be given the rearating blade may beata different angle than that of the sheets inthe stack. The number of sheets'. fed from the stackvat any reciprocation'4` can be determined by the ratio ofthe speed of reciprocatio'n of the sheet separating and feeding mechanism and the speed `of the conveying belts The ,preferred embodiment of' the invention contemplates the mountingof' the sheet'separating and feeding device below and between the move the sheets away from the stack with an efficiency, substantially equivalent to the device above-described`.

The present invention provides a very satisfac-L l torylsheet feeding device for the continuous, au-

tomatic feeding of sheets of fibrous cellulose, such 'as wood pulp or cotton lintersheets, in the preparation of alkalicellulose solutions.`

The device ofthe present invention has particular utility `where'it is 'desired tofeed sheets at a slow rate to a receiving meansfor a'continued` period of time. The conveying belts I3 may be madel of any desired length, andthereby any number of cellulose Asheets may be positioned in the stack on the,sheetfconveyingapparatus. The

apparatus of the presentuinventionwill operate for extended periods "lof time in an'automatic manner andv without 'trouble from clogging, or jamming. Therelative speeds of the conveying ybelt and the-sheetseparating` and fee`ding`mech-' be readily 'adjusted'to any `speedratio` to give any desired rate of feeding of the sheets. Since it is obvious that many Vchanges-and modifications canbe made in the details abovedescribed, it is to be understood that the invenvention is not tobe limitedto the specifically de` scribed details, except as set forth-in the appended claims.y I claim;

y 1. A sheet separating apparatus, adapted'to remove sheets from a-stack'of sheets onan advancing conveyor, which comprises blade means for .intermittently separating and forcing oneior more sheets from said stack, means for inserting said blade means betweenlsheets of said stack; hinge means connecting said blade means to said inserting means, and means for moving said blade in` a Adirection away from on said hinge means said stack, f ,4

` 2. A sheet separating'apparatus, adapted to remove sheets frorna stackfof sheets on an' advancing conveyor,`whichA comprises blade `meansl for intermittently separating andL forcing one or more sheets from said staclgmeans for-reciprocating said blade means whereby tocause the sameto be periodically inserted between sheets of said stack, and means for` oscillating said blade means whereby tomove the same in a direction away from said stack. 1

i 3. A sheet separating apparatus, adapted to remove sheets from a stack of sheets maintained in an upstanding position on an advancing conveyor, which comprises blade means below said stack for intermittently separating and `forcing l one or more sheets from said stack, means for i inserting said blade means between sheets of said t stack, hinge means connecting said blade means to said inserting means, and means for moving said blade on said hinge meansin a direction awayfromsaid stack.` A I 4. A sheet separating apparatus, adapted to remove sheets from a staclr` of sheets on an advancing conveyor, which comprises blade means positioned below the forward end of the advancing stack of sheets, means for intermittently inserting said blade means between sheets of said stack, hinge means connecting said blade means to said inserting means, and means for moving said blade on said hinge means, after `the insertion thereof, in a direction away from said stack.

5. A sheet separating apparatus, adapted to remove sheets from astack of sheets on an in`` termittently advancing` conveyor, which comprises blade means for intermittently separating and forcing one or more sheets from said stack, means for inserting said blade means between `sheets of said stack, hinge means connecting said blade means to said inserting means, and means for moving said blade on said hinge means in a direction awayirom said stack, said conveyor movingmeans and said sheet separating means being synchronously driven at a predetermined speed ratio. i x `6; A sheet separating apparatus, adapted to` removesheets from a stacklof sheets on an advancing conveyor which comprises blade means adjacent the forward end of the advancing stack of sheets, means synchronized to the speed of said conveyor advancing means, for reciprocating saidblade means whereby to intermittently insert the latter betweensheets of said stack, and means for imparting an oscillating motion to said blade means wherebyto move the same, together with one or more sheets, in a direction away from said stack, and means adjacent said blade means for supporting and guiding the sheets which are separated and moved from said stack.

8: A sheet' separating apparatus, adapted to remove sheets from a stackv of sheets on a pair of advancing spaced parallel conveyors, which comprises blade means between said conveyors adjacent the forward end of theadvancing stack `of sheets, means, synchronized to the speedlof said conveyor advancing means, for reciprocating said blade means whereby to intermittently insert the latter betweensheets of said stack, and

means for imparting an oscillating motion to said `sheets'during the blade means whereby to move the same, together with one or moresheetsfin a direction away from said stack. j

9. A sheet separating apparatus as defined in claim 8 in which'means are provided for supporte ingk the forward end oi' said advancing stack of oscillating 4motion of said blade means.

d WILLIAM n. scrnn'r'z, Ja 

